This Spring Festival, Guangzhou cuisine is out of the circle in the country again.
Food in Guangzhou, food is an important label of this famous historical and cultural city that has gone through more than 2,000 years. In Guangzhou, you can't help but talk about eating, you see the thousands of restaurants, noisy and prosperous. But do you know who the plaques or inscriptions of the time-honored brands hidden in the ancient alleys come from? What's the story behind them?
The time-honored signboard bears the traces of time, like a poem written to Guangzhou and worthy of repeated recitation.
Tao Tao Ju. 
At 7 o'clock in the morning, the old tea guests called friends and companions, happily sat down, made a cup of tea, fragrant and refreshing, called a heart or two refreshments, and spread out the hexagonal attic of "Guangzhou**" located in the tenth Fu Street.
The tea continued and continued until it was light and tasteless, and the topics of the old neighbors became more and more trivial and long. As the sky grew brighter, the baby gradually woke up in the mother's arms, and the office workers hurried past the hexagonal building and glanced at the bustle inside. The first batch of tea guests had just changed their lamps, and the uncle climbed the ladder and wiped the gold-lettered signboard of the teahouse - "Tao Tao Ju - Nanhai Kang Youwei".
This black background gold signboard, legend for Kang Youwei's handwriting, now it and quicksand buns, sweet cakes, a pinch, eight treasure fish cloud soup and so on together become the "Tao Tao Ju" resounding business card.
Look carefully at this plaque, it is indeed Kang Youwei's favorite Northern Wei Dynasty "Shimen Ming" tablet, the penmanship is flat and steady, the turn is round and heavy, the pen is thick and powerful, quite his own style. However, there is still controversy about whether this plaque is written by Kang Youwei himself. This has to be said for a long time.
During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, when Kang Youwei lectured in Guangzhou Wanmu Thatched Cottage (No. 3, Changxingli, Zhongshan 4th Road, Guangzhou City), he often went to a nearby tearoom to drink tea, and inscribed the plaque of "Tao Taoju" for the tea room. Some people also say that this plaque was imitated by others, because at that time, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao publicized the law, and they were very respected by a group of celebrities, and people imitated Kang Liang's calligraphy. These legends have added a touch of legend to Tao Tao Ju.
At that time, other teahouses in Guangzhou were called "Lou", and only Tao Taoju was called "Ju", which seemed to be in line with Kang Youwei's style of restructuring for Tuogu. Before the Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty, the tea houses in Guangzhou were basically called "residences", such as the well-known Fulaiju in Chenghuang Miaokou on Huiai Road, Lu Yuju in Taiping Road, Mao Zhenju in the second Fu, Yong'an Ju in Sanfu, Wuliuju in Wufu and so on. In the Guangxu period, "residence" was renamed "building" one after another.
"Ju" and "Lou" are just different in name, but the building structure is still the same. Since it is a building, the space is very large, and the underground store naturally cannot be wasted, and the shrewd merchants use it to sell pastries and cakes. The upstairs atrium is often set up with private seats, and the two sides are used as suites. There is an old saying among Cantonese people: "If you have money, you go upstairs, but you don't have money to go down." "A teahouse meets the needs of tea customers from all walks of life, rich and rich in life, cheap and cheap in life.
Now the hexagonal attic of Tao Tao Ju was rebuilt in the 20s of the last century, and the tea room is full of celebrity ink treasures, which are favored by celebrities and gentlemen, and Lu Xun and Xu Guangping are frequent visitors during their stay in Guangzhou. Lu Xun's delicious food is famous, he was teaching at Sun Yat-sen University at the time, with a monthly salary of 500 yuan, belonging to the high-income class, **delicious and delicious**, and it is common to go to the restaurant.
In the 20s and 30s of the 20th century, there were also many well-known Cantonese opera troupes listed here, and Bai Jurong and Xue Juexian, the "Four Heavenly Kings of Cantonese Opera", were once Tao Tao's guests. Listening to plays, tasting tea, and eating refreshments, it became a popular mansion for a while.
Lianxiang Building. 
Speaking of Kang Youwei, there is also a celebrity related to him here, he is the inscription of the plaque of the "Hundred Years of Bakery" Lianxianglou - Chen Ruyue, a Hanlin bachelor in the Guangxu period of the late Qing Dynasty.
Chen Ruyue is a native of Zhangcha Liantang Village, Chancheng, Foshan, and studied under Zhu Ciqi of Lishan Thatched Cottage in Jiujiang, Nanhai, so he can also be regarded as Kang Youwei's classmate. Later, he became the chief examiner of Guizhou Province, but after being an official for a few years, he resolutely resigned and returned to his hometown when he was not confused and his official fortune was prosperous, and opened a West Lake Academy in Xiqiao Mountain, South China Sea, to teach and teach. And the plaque of Lianxiang Building was also invited to be inscribed after he went into hiding.
Founded in the 15th year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty, the "Centennial Bakery" Lianxiang Building, originally called "Lianxiang Cake Pastry House", is the founder of lotus paste filling dim sum. The lotus seed paste of Lianxiang House is exquisite, with Hunan lotus, imported white sugar and instant peanut oil, according to the process of fierce fire, warm fire and slow fire, until the water content is kept at about 20%, which not only maintains the fragrance of lotus seeds, but also removes the astringency of lotus seed skin, so that the lotus seed produces golden color, smooth and fragrant.
Once after Chen Ruyue tasted lotus paste dim sum, he felt that the taste was excellent, and proposed to change the name of Lianxiang to "Lianxiang" to highlight the exclusive formula process, and obtained the consent of the boss at that time, so he happily wrote down the current plaque. Later, the old plaque was destroyed, and Lianxianglou imitated a new one, but Chen Ruyue's signature was lost.
Of course, the most valuable thing is that after a long time, the three words "Lianxianglou" have remained. Chen Ruyue is the best at cursive, but "Lianxianglou" uses italics, the lines are round, the bones are strong, and there is the wind of Yan muscles and willow bones, which is very different from his cursive style. Today, these three words have become the golden sign of this century-old store and are known to the world.
To Mei Zhai. 
Founded in 1608 by Liu Shou'an, the Chi Mei Zhai Sauce Garden represents the Cantonese style of making sauce, which is eaten with Cantonese cuisine and is full of flavor. Well-known varieties include zenith head soy sauce, sweet vinegar, small sesame oil, Jiawei olive, smack, hoisin sauce and so on. Zhimeizhai and Beijing Liubiju, Shanghai Guanshengyuan, Changsha Jiuruju together are known as China's four major sauce gardens.
When it comes to the plaque of Zhi Mei Zhai today, we must mention the other two Zhi Mei Zhai in China, they are the famous Zhi Mei Zhai Restaurant in Beijing and the Zhi Mei Zhai Restaurant in Tianjin. Beijing's Zhimeizhai Restaurant, founded in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, is a time-honored brand in Beijing, and now the plaque of the restaurant is the handwriting of the calligrapher Mr. Qigong, and the font is handsome and beautiful. In terms of the establishment time, Guangzhou's Zhimeizhai is earlier than Beijing, but in the 80s of the 20th century, a professional magazine "Condiment Dealer" published by the China Condiment Food Association, when introducing the Guangzhou Zhimeizhai Sauce Garden, the "Zhimeizhai" plaque inscribed by Mr. Qigong was installed on the head of the Guangzhou Zhimeizhai Sauce Garden, which is also an experience of Zhimeizhai being widely publicized by the whole country on a large scale after the reform and opening up. In fact, Guangzhou Zhimeizhai did not touch the light of Mr. Qigong, but still used his own plaque.
Nowadays, Guangzhou Zhimeizhai still uses the oldest plaque, after the identification of cultural relics experts, this plaque is preliminarily identified as the handwriting of the famous calligrapher Su Ruohu in the late Qing Dynasty, and the handsome and beautiful style of the Beijing Zhimeizhai plaque, the plaque font of Guangzhou Zhimeizhai appears full and heavy.
Lychee Bay. 
As long as you go deep into Xiguan and walk the old waterway of Guangzhou, a water city, Lychee Wanchong is a must-see attraction. Now at the intersection, I saw a big stone, on which there were several eye-catching big characters "Lychee Bay - Huang Yongyu Inscription".
Speaking of the history of Lychee Bay, we have to talk about the water people in Guangzhou, which were called the Tanzai people in the old days. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, Tanzai families were not allowed to go ashore, nor were they allowed to marry with people on the shore, let alone go ashore to do business. "The world is the water for the township, the boat writer every year, the ups and downs of the waves, the end of the sea and the world", this nursery rhyme sings a portrayal of the early life of the Tanzi family.
With water as his home, he relies on boats for food, drink, and use. In addition to fishing as a basic livelihood, the Tanzi people started a business on the spot, in the waters of the Pearl River in the area of the Rainbow Bridge, the people of Guangzhou called it "Old Lychee Wanyong", they hung a small yellow flag on the stern of the boat, wrote the word "porridge" in a big book, and used the salvaged river fresh as a condiment to boil porridge, and over time it became the famous "boat porridge" in Guangzhou. A small bowl of porridge, after little by little accumulation, the Tanzi family saved enough money for their children to go to school, sent them ashore to the school, and became decent people.
Cantonese people love to talk about water and wealth. A Pearl River crosses Guangfu from west to east, dividing the city into north and south banks, "Hebei" developed early, and the rich people gathered in Xiguan and Dongshan in the old days; The development of "Henan" was a little slower, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, a modern industrial cluster was established, opening a new chapter in the development of a modern city. Gradually, "Henan" has wetlands and gardens, greenways, birds and flowers, and many people choose to buy property here. Today, there are small and quiet western-style buildings along the river, and the new fishermen's village built for the Tan people has also changed for several generations.
Shiyi time has passed, now only in the new Lychee Bay and Huangpu Ancient Port there are still a little remains of the Tan people, Lychee Bay holds a water flower market every Spring Festival, and the Tanka houses in the Huangpu Ancient Port have been transformed into restaurants, tourists can taste the Tan family cuisine, while enjoying the pearl water outside the window all the way to the east, never stop.
How much do you know about the time-honored plaque in Yangcheng.
North Park Restaurant. 
Founded in 1928, North Park Restaurant is one of the four major garden restaurants in Guangzhou. In 1957, the state invested in the reconstruction, designed by the School of Architecture of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Zhu Guang, who was the mayor at the time, also wrote an inscription for the restaurant"North Park"Plaque. When Liu Haisu, a master of Chinese painting, was 87 years old, he came here for a banquet and a sway"The flavor is endless"The big characters are given to each other, and now they stand outside the gate.
New Asia Hotel.
Founded in 1927, New Asia Hotel, once the "first floor of Nanhua", is located in the bustling Renmin South Road in Guangzhou, facing the beautiful Pearl River in the south, and connecting the causeway, which was once known as the "ten-mile commercial port". The five characters of "New Asia Hotel" are from the hand of calligrapher Yu Youren. Yu Youren is also an educator and once founded Aurora University, which is now Shanghai University. As a calligrapher of a generation, it is said that when he lived in seclusion in his later years, people who came to the door to ask for calligraphy broke through the threshold, and there was an endless stream. He has a famous inscription: "Calculate the profit of the world, seek the name of the world, and seek the name of the world", which can be described as a serious and long-term statement.
At that time, New Asia Hotel pioneered the "three-step reception method" of "one tea" (serving tea), "two towels" (sending towels) and "three introductions" (introducing charges, equipment and services) among its peers, which made the hotel's Chinese and Western restaurants famous for a while. Nowadays, this set of practices has already become the rule of many old restaurants in Guangzhou.
Datong Restaurant. 
The reopened Datong Restaurant Figure Datong Restaurant Official ** Datong Restaurant located on Yanjiang Road in the past, formerly known as the "Guangzhou Garden Restaurant" opened by the Japanese in 1938, after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, was taken over by Tan Jienan, the "King of Tea House", and then successively became the first public-private joint venture catering enterprise in Guangzhou and the first batch of Sino-foreign joint venture catering enterprises in Guangzhou after the reform and opening up. In the 90s of the last century, Datong Restaurant took the lead in opening a Cantonese opera tea house, which became a favorite place for old neighbors to drink tea. On December 1, 2016, Datong Restaurant, which has gone through 78 years, ceased business, and Datong, Dagong and Dasanyuan Restaurant, which had been "Three Great Causeways", disappeared in the smoke and clouds of history. Now Datong Restaurant has changed its face and started anew, and has laid out a number of chain stores in various urban areas. Its plaque is neat and eye-catching, and it is the hand of the famous calligrapher Chen Jingshu.
The emperor, Huang Zhenlong.
Founded in 1940, Huang Shanghuang is a famous lap-mei shop in Guangzhou, and Huang Zhenlong is the king of herbal tea in Guangzhou, who once opened the first herbal tea shop in Guangzhou on Renji Road, and their plaques are all by the famous calligrapher Zeng Jingchong. Mr. Zeng's "Spring and Snow in Qinyuan" was also collected by the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
The famous plaque appreciates the elegance, and Yangcheng wins the taste. Time-honored brands are the memory of Guangzhou, carrying the past of a city and leading to the future.
Produced by Guangzhou ** Media Key Laboratory.
Planning Bi Zheng co-ordinator Zhang Xiaowenwen Zhao Xiaoman Guangzhou**Data map (except for signature) Guangzhou** New Flower City Editor: Zhao Xiaoman.